Andrew Korybko |
There are technically several stories here which all merge into a single one about how the Kurds are connected to Daesh, but before proceeding, I want to be very clear here that when I use the word “Kurds”, I’m specifically and only referring to Kurdish militant groups, not peaceful law-abiding Kurds, which are in fact the vast majority of this demographic.
That being said and having gotten by “disclaimer” out of the way, the first thing that I want to touch upon is how the famous Rudaw Kurdish media outlet said that four of the five Daesh terrorists which attacked Tehran last week might be Kurdish. Interestingly, however, Iran accused Saudi Arabia of masterminding the attack, not the Kurds, though this doesn’t necessarily infer a contradiction.
Saudi-Kurdish nexus
To be absolutely clear once more, I am NOT saying that all Kurds are working with Daesh or are terrorists, but just that there is evidence linking Kurdish militant groups in Iran and Syria to the world’s worst terrorist organization, and there are compelling reasons to believe that Saudi Arabia is behind it all.
Actually, Iran officially accused the Saudis of supporting “Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran” terrorists during their offensive last summer, and the group’s leader Mustafa Hejri parroted Saudi talking points at the time by accusing Iran of being a so-called “Shiite ISIS”. Therefore, it’s not inconceivable that the Kingdom is now patronizing Iranian Kurdish militant groups and even recruiting some of them to Daesh, such as the allegedly Kurdish attackers which struck Tehran last week.
This is even more probable when one considers what the Kurdish ARA news agency reported last week. The outlet wrote that Syrian Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed, who was in DC at the time, said “Saudi Arabia is an important power in the region and it must play its role in promoting stability in Syria. We are ready to cooperate with Saudi”, evidently because of the rising Turkish-Saudi tensions over Qatar.
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Considering that the Syrian Kurds are now open to working with the Saudis, it makes sense why Sergey Surovikin, the commander of Russia’s forces in Syria, scandalously told the press last week that “According to available reliable information, in early June ISIL terrorists entered into collusion with the command of the Kurdish armed units, which are part of the Democratic Forces Union, left the populated localities of Tadia and al-Hamam located 19 kilometers southwest of Raqqa offering no resistance and headed toward Palmyra”.
The long-term plan is to carve a “second geopolitical ‘Israel’” in the heart of the Mideast which could then be used as a unipolar staging ground for disrupting the incipient Russian-led Greater Power rapprochement between Turkey and Iran, to say nothing of contributing to the “Balkanization” of Syria and Iraq as per the modus vivendi of “Identity Federalism” or outright Kurdish separatism.
Obviously, given that Kurdish militants in the Mideast are working as the US’ proxies in the region, it’s not surprising that Washington’s allies in Riyadh would cooperate with them too, in this context through recruiting them to Daesh like in Iran or having the group cut deals with them such as what just happened in Raqqa.
To be absolutely clear once more, I am NOT saying that all Kurds are working with Daesh or are terrorists, but just that there is evidence linking Kurdish militant groups in Iran and Syria to the world’s worst terrorist organization, and there are compelling reasons to believe that Saudi Arabia is behind it all. Like I wrote last summer in my analysis about “The US-Saudi Plot To Prompt An Iranian Pullback From Syria”, the Islamic Republic is fraught with multiple Hybrid War variables along its periphery, and the Kurds are becoming central to all hostile efforts to destabilize the country.
Read more: The Middle East Spat Intensifies as enmity increases between Iran and Saudi Arabia
The long-term plan is to carve a “second geopolitical ‘Israel’” in the heart of the Mideast which could then be used as a unipolar staging ground for disrupting the incipient Russian-led Greater Power rapprochement between Turkey and Iran, to say nothing of contributing to the “Balkanization” of Syria and Iraq as per the modus vivendi of “Identity Federalism” or outright Kurdish separatism.
This is the premier objective of the “Cerberus” partnership between the US, Saudi Arabia, and “Israel”, and it explains why all three of them have collectively marshalled their efforts to midwife a de-facto Kurdish “state” in the Mideast, even if they must ultimately employ terrorist means such as Daesh in doing so.
Andrew Korybko is a political analyst, journalist and a regular contributor to several online journals, as well as a member of the expert council for the Institute of Strategic Studies and Predictions at the People’s Friendship University of Russia. He specializes in Russian affairs and geopolitics, specifically the US strategy in Eurasia. The views expressed in this article are author’s own. It does not reflect Global Village Space Editorial policy.